Chile registers 2017 fiscal deficit of 2.8 percent GDP - gov't

SANTIAGO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Chile registered a fiscal deficit of 2.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2017, as government spending rose alongside revenues from rising copper prices in the world’s top copper producer, officials said on Tuesday.

The fiscal gap was slightly higher than the government’s earlier estimate of 2.7 percent of gross domestic product.

Chile has long been one of Latin America’s most fiscally sound countries. But several years of declining copper-related revenue and higher spending on education and other social programs under outgoing President Michelle Bachelet had widened the fiscal deficit and contributed to recent downgrades by credit rating agencies Fitch and S&P. (Reporting by Felipe Iturrieta Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)